bargain books

April 11, 2013 by Jane

I visited Goodwill yesterday morning with the intention of finding something new to read. A quick scan of the bookshelves yielded these four. Bought new, they would have cost over eighty dollars, but yay, I only paid ten.

I’ve already read “Assassination Vacation” (library), but decided for $3 I didn’t mind owning my own copy.

I’ve heard extremely differing opinions of “The Help” (I haven’t seen the movie), but again, for a couple bucks I am willing to see for myself what I think of it.

I liked Curtis Sittenfeld’s “Prep”, so thought “American Wife” was worth a shot.

“The Art of Fielding” is about baseball and is humungous, so I am stoked to start that one.

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fruit crisp

April 10, 2013 by Jane

I made this today for a play date at Laura’s. It was pretty popular. There was just enough leftover to bring Brian home a small portion. This was adapted from a recipe in Cook’s Illustrated from Sept 2010. The real star is the chopped pecans in the topping, which give it a cookie-like flavor. Also the apples come out perfectly cooked every time, without the mushiness many apple crisps suffer.

“Flawless Apple Crisp”

Topping:
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup finely chopped pecans (or walnuts, or almonds)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
3 pounds Braeburn apples (or Golden Delicious or Honeycrisp or Jazz; about 5-6 apples), peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2 inch wedges
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 cup of apple cider (or juice)
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

1. For the topping: Combine flour, pecans, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl. Stir in butter until mixture is thoroughly combined. Set aside.

2. Filling: Toss apples, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl; set aside. Bring cider to a simmer in large saucepan, cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, ~10 minutes. Transfer to a liquid measuring cup, stir in lemon juice and set aside.

3. Heat 2 TB butter in same saucepan over medium heat. Add apples and cook, stirring frequently, until apples begin to soften, 8-10 minutes. Do not fully cook apples. Remove pan from heat and stir in reduced cider until apples are coated.

4. Using large slotted spoon, transfer apples to 8×8 or 9×9 oven-safe baking dish, leaving some of the liquid behind in the saucepan. Spread topping evenly over the fruit and bake until topping is golden brown, about 18 minutes. Cool on a wire rack at least 15 minutes before serving.

Notes: The original recipe called for more sugar; I always reduce sugar in apple recipes like these because they usually end up being too sweet for my taste. If you like, add another 1/4 cup of white sugar to the topping and double the sugar stirred in with the apples. I also reduced the flour in the topping a little and pumped up the pecans and oats.

The original recipe also instructs to make the whole thing in a large oven-safe skillet from start to finish, but I don’t have one of those. If you do that, reduce bake time to 15 minutes. (The recipe did give instructions for transfer to another baking dish, which I followed.)

The technique of pre-cooking the fruit on the stove in this recipe is meant to reduce time in the oven, making for less-mushy topping and non-overcooked apples. In a typical recipe for crisp, the raw apples cook in the stove for an hour and basically steam in there, which can soften the “crisp” on top and overcook the fruit. When partially cooked on the stove, they can be stirred to ensure even cooking, and the steam escapes from the pot, reducing some of the extra moisture.

Also, the apple cider reduction really does intensify the apple flavor in the fruit. It’s a nice touch.

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no turning back

April 9, 2013 by Jane

It’s really happening, our kitchen will finally be a place I enjoy. Yesterday our contractor came over and installed a new energy-efficient window over the sink, then walled-off the eastern-facing window and begin to prep the wall for painting as well as nailed new siding to the outside of the house where the window was.

I also got a few delivery dates in place: tomorrow and Thursday for all the hardwood flooring, and Friday April 19 for the cabinets. So now we can really formulate a timeline. Demolition could begin in one week, followed by installing 460 square feet of floor, doing all the electrical work, and painting. I bought paint yesterday, too (Benjamin Moore “Plum Raisin” and “Floral White”). After one coat of paint is up, cabinets will be installed, followed by appliances. Then, finally, the granite company will take their measurements and come back to install the counters and the sink. Lastly, another coat of paint, outlet and switch covers, and whatever else I forgot.

I still have not chosen tile for the back splash but it seems like that can wait until last. I’ll find the time somehow in the next couple weeks to get over to Seattle to do that.

If the cabinets and counters are installed in the final week of April, this whole thing could be wrapped up by May 1 at the latest. Unreal!

And I’ll need to make some craig’s list posts for the microwave ($40), IKEA butcher block island ($50), fancy stainless steel trash can ($30), and a couple of maple bar stools ($40). We can use that cash to get one of those extra-wide baby gates!

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the teething

April 7, 2013 by Jane

Audrey has cut one top incisor and one bottom incisor. It mustn’t feel very good because she has been complaining quite a lot in her sleep and can only be consoled by the boob, meaning much sleeplessness for me. A night full of broken sleep for me also means a night full of bizarre dreams. In one of them I am holding my baby and am so upset about something that I bite her arm, thinking it is my own arm. I stop and look at the little indentations on her skin, and apologize profusely to her.

When I was not floating around in dreamland, I was laying awake in bed listening to the rain beat against the roof. I went down to get a drink of water and looked out into our backyard at the shapes of the trees waving against the purple of the sky.

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hunger games

April 7, 2013 by Jane

I picked up some books at Goodwill a couple weeks ago and already finished them, darnit. I have carved out opportunities to read, and run out of books again.

What I’ve read since March:

Object of Beauty by Steve Martin: I actually liked this, it had a lot of interesting stuff about the art world, though I can’t say I related to any of the characters, and I did sometimes hear it in Steve Martin’s voice. Yes, same guy.

The Hunger Games: I bought this because miraculously Goodwill had one copy. I’d promised that I would only read it if I didn’t have to pay much to do so. It was $2. I enjoyed it and finished in three days. It is what it is, a very unique and compelling YA story (by that I mean it is unique for a YA novel, not that it is in and of itself unique — the story has been told before in “The Running Man,” “The Long Walk,” “The Lord of the Flies,” “Battle Royale,” etc). Not sure that I want to read the other ones, maybe I’ll wait to get them secondhand, too.

Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler: I got this because I had read one or two of the author’s other books. It’s about a wife and mother who one day decides to leave her family while they are all on vacation, and start a whole new life. Interesting story and really well written, though I didn’t particularly care for the ending.

Now what. Well, Freya finally goes back to preschool tomorrow, so Audrey and I can make another thrift store run.

Our kitchen remodel also starts tomorrow: replacing the window over the sink with a new, modern vinyl window, and also removing the other window and covering with siding, sheetrock, insulation, drywall. A wasted wall repaired and turned into useful space.

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before

April 6, 2013 by Jane

And now, the before pictures of our kitchen. During and following the remodel I will take some matching “after” photos.

Click each photo to see the large version.

I forgot to tag it in the pictures, but the HIDEOUS stick-on floor tile is being replaced by glorious hardwood, all the way back to the fireplace and also down the hallway.

This is a picture of our granite. It’s the sample, not the actual slab, which we will hopefully choose next weekend.

I have come to the conclusion, after dwelling on it in a state of insomnia this morning, that the colors in our granite should dictate the palette of the kitchen. Otherwise some brutal clashing could take place. Therefore, the colors present in our stone (taupe-gray, ivory, charcoal, and maroon) will be followed in the accent wall color (probably maroon) as well as the mosaic of back splash tiles. I am not a professional designer; what do you guys think?

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on her own

April 3, 2013 by Jane

This morning I rose at six and went downstairs to sit in the quiet living room reading a book and drinking coffee. I had the baby monitor tuned to listen to Audrey sleeping, and Brian was working in his office. At about quarter past seven, I heard the bedroom door upstairs opening, and assumed it was Brian getting the baby up so that I could shower.

There was a soft little voice on the monitor, then silence. Hmmm. Then I heard Freya’s little bare feet padding down the hallway. She appeared, smiling, and said good morning. I wondered where the heck Brian was.

“I said good morning to my sister,” Freya said. I asked a few questions, and pieced together the following: She got up, removed her overnight diaper, then put her pajama pants back on. After that, she walked to our bedroom and went to whisper good morning to sleeping Audrey. Then, she turned and came downstairs by herself.

I praised her independence proudly. Later, after breakfast, Freya went back upstairs by herself and brushed her teeth and her hair, then went to her room and chose an outfit from her dresser. Only then did she knock on Brian’s door to ask for help getting dressed.

These are all such big milestones for our little (almost) three and a half year old. I guess that’s why I wanted to note it here to be remembered.

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utilities

April 2, 2013 by Jane

This afternoon our power suddenly went out when a local transformer blew. Brian works from home and relies on power and wifi to do his job, so off he went to a local coffee shop to work. I stayed home and tried to nurse Audrey to sleep but she wasn’t having it. Freya sat up in her bedroom making a racket until she finally passed out.

The juice was back on about an hour later. Crock pot hadn’t lost much heat, so our house was still filled with the scent of pot roast. However, cable and internet were still out, so no internet or TV. To place the cherry on the cake, the garbage truck forgot to collect our trash this morning, despite driving through our street (Freya and I watched). So, a trifecta of utility fails today.

I listened to the radio and worked on the kitchen remodel budget. It has crept into the living room and hallway as we are now getting all the hardwood done at once. The flooring is priced out now, so I put together a semi-final total of all materials for the remodel (flooring, cabinets, granite counters, windows, and appliances). Factor in labor and we’ll be right around our budget. A friend of mine told me a couple days ago that their kitchen remodel went $30k OVER budget. I can’t even imagine how extravagant a project is where thirty thousand dollars is the cost overrun. Ours is average I suppose (around $20k), which is not bad given that we are getting granite, an island, pretty nice cabinetry, and 480 square feet of hardwood floor. Bright side!

Our entire wedding, reception, and honeymoon clocked in at $15,000, and it was crazy to learn how “inexpensive” that was for a San Francisco affair. Thinking back now, I would have cut a few costs, since that seems insane for what amounts to a party, an overpriced dress, and a vacation, but back then we had no kids and two incomes, so the cash was thrown around much more liberally.

Anyhoo. It’s getting close. Estimated ship date for cabinets is set at 4/22. So demo and flooring prior to that, and cabinet install and counter after that date. We could have this whole thing wrapped up in the first week of May. I think about that every time I am furiously pushing stuff around to find twelve more square inches of counter space to work with or stepping on one of the peeling stickem tiles on the floor.

In a month we could be unpacking and settling into my dream kitchen. And never have to remodel another one again!

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tidy

April 1, 2013 by Jane

This weekend I finished a couple of cleaning projects that have been on my list for a while: tidy and organize the downstairs closet, and swap out winter coats/shoes/scarves/hats for spring ones.

The closet was a mess, had gotten to the point where we were just opening the door and throwing things inside. I basically pulled it all out into the hallway. Mainly it consisted of outgrown baby clothes and Freya’s old baby toys. I sorted all the clothes into piles: Spring (consignment), Fall (consignment), donate, and gift. Then I put all the toys into a box until Audrey is a little older. The closet is now sorted and the carpet is visible.

I pulled out a couple spring jackets and pairs of sandals, then replaced them with my warm winter coats and my boots. Springtime coats and shoes go on the rack behind the door and the shoe shelf beside that. It has to be out in the open or it won’t be worn. Finally I sent all the winter scarves and hats and mittens up to storage in my bedroom closet, and brought down lightweight scarves and my gardening hat and baseball caps.

Baseball starts today!

Anyway, it’s just one of those seasonal chores I’m glad to have done. I also sorted all Freya’s stuff, putting aside things she has grown out of for her sister to use later. There was a sense of finality in sorting Audrey’s clothing, each round of baby sizes will be our last, no more holding on to them for an impending child. I have saved a small handful of things: shirts both sisters have worn, tiny knit hats, the first baby onesie I ever bought when I was 12 weeks pregnant with Freya (she wore it in the hospital and I think Audrey did too). But I won’t save much of these things. Just like I don’t save all of Freya’s amazing artwork. There are episodes of Hoarders about mothers who have done this, and ended up in a filthy house stuffed with mountains of “memories.”

Today Audrey and I visited Home Depot together to look at paint chips and flooring. I picked out some hardwood at $3.50/sq ft, and then looked at some color combos pairing a dusky rose hue with light gray. I can’t decide if we’ll go in that direction or maybe something cooler like green or blue with light gray. The saturated color will just be for an accent wall that surrounds our pantry door; we’ll only need a quart. I think the main walls will need to be light to contrast the dark cabinets as well as match with our pale gray granite. Nothing was purchased or decided, but we’re on a deadline now, so we’ll have to decide pretty soon. The paint needs to go down before the cabinets are installed, or we risk paint smears on the beautiful new wood.

Springtime continues to blossom. I can feel it now even when the sky is overcast, it’s like the air smells different. The frogs nearby sing at dusk and into the night, and after a period of silence, the birds start their chirping as the black sky begins to fade into blue. Trees are exploding with buds and flowers, and pretty soon we’ll need to figure out our very modest vegetable garden. Carrots, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, strawberries, pumpkin?

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glorious

March 30, 2013 by Jane

The sky is pure blue, birds singing, sunshine blazing, my goodness what an effect on my mood.

Also our new gas range was delivered and it is beauuuuutiful. So weird to have a modern cooking appliance. It will spend the next five weeks in our garage, along with its microwave cohort.

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